Skip to main content

Double Dose


          Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. (Psalm 96:10)
         let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. (Psalm 98:9)
          Since at least the first half of today’s passages are effectively the same, we’ll address them together. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who divide people into two kinds, and those who don’t. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who rejoice at the thought of God coming to judge the world, and those who don’t. There are three kinds of people in the world: those who fear God’s judgment, those who resent it, and those who welcome it.
          Scripture acknowledges the two perspectives of God’s judgment. There are places where the “day of the Lord” is described as wonderful. Isaiah 4:2 describes it as beautiful and glorious. Isaiah 13:9 describes it as a cruel day, with wrath and anger. The difference, a friend has suggested, is in the beholder. If you see the police showing up to break up a fight and arrest a bully/abuser, you’ll probably cheer – unless you are the bully/abuser or are closely connected or codependent with the bully/abuser. More than once in the past few years, I’ve heard the relatives of someone who had been killed while trying to rob a home owned by a person who owned and used a gun. The relatives seemed to have the opinion that the homeowner was a bad person who took away their good someone. I expect there will be a lot of that among part of those who face judgment:
          “He doesn’t deserve…”
          “She’s the victim …”
          “There’s nothing wrong with what I did!”
          “Ha, he/she did worse than I did!”
          Some folks even believe that when the judgment time comes, they’ll be judging themselves. They admit that they intend to be more than an little lenient in some areas.
          But we’ll run across Jesus coming to judge at least once more before we’re through with this list. If we play a part in that judgment, it will be to confess our guilt, or (if we are foolish) to claim innocence or justification to the Omniscient One.
          In a sense, He has already passed judgment. It has been passed since before time began, and it was passed at the cross. It will be passed one final time on the Day of the Lord. I hope I’m one of those who will rejoice, not because “they’re finally getting theirs!” but because justice will be done.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more